Palm Beach homes: New modern-style house filled with vibrant details

Friday

Apr 10, 2020 at 12:05 AM

Developed on speculation, a just-completed modern-style house with subtle Deco design influences is priced at $14.9 million on Atlantic Avenue in Palm Beach.

Over the past year, a new modern-style house has risen in the ocean block of Palm Beach’s Atlantic Avenue. Passers-by take note of its pristine white facade, clean minimalist lines and subtle design details that recall groundbreaking architecture of the 1930s.

With a decidedly contemporary feel inside and out, the exterior architectural details of the house at 111 Atlantic Ave. include scalloped Deco-like wall reliefs and windows that wrap around corners to fill rooms with natural light.

In fact, floor-to-ceiling glass walls and doors throughout optimize tropical garden views from nearly every room. When all the doors are open, the house transforms into a sort-of open-air pavilion, with sea breezes wafting through the rooms.

The centerpiece courtyard greets visitors with an array of bubbling fountains. On one side of the house, set into an expansive lawn, are the pool and whirlpool spa, which are contiguous but separated by a sun-shelf with a fountain.

On the opposite side of the property is a secret garden with its own trough-style fountain that provides a focal point through the windows of the home office.

When one is outside — or the doors are open to the courtyard — the sound of water is everywhere, thanks to the landscape designed by Keith Williams of Nievera Williams Design of Palm Beach and installed by Tropical Landscaping of Miami.

The house was developed by Todd Michael Glaser and designed for a site measuring nearly a half-acre. Its architect was Rafael Portuondo of Coral Gables-based Portuondo-Perotti Architects, who also designed for Glaser and his investment group a since-sold house just next door at 113 Atlantic Ave. in a Mediterranean style.

Portuondo’s design for the modern-style house at No. 111 won enthusiastic support from the Architectural Commission. The town issued permits for the house about a year ago, and construction finished up in February.

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With seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and two half-baths, the home is priced at $14.9 million. Listed with agent Suzanne Frisbie of Premier Estate Properties, the house has 7,536 square feet of living space, inside and out. Glaser’s eponymous company designed the interiors.

On the north side of Atlantic Avenue, the property is three houses from the ocean, where North Ocean Boulevard acts as a coastal road, running for seven blocks between Wells Road and Sunrise Avenue. The result is a quiet neighborhood tucked between the beach and North County Road.

"I found it by accident. It’s the only (ocean) street I ever saw that has no traffic, so for anyone who has kids, it’s safe to cross over to the (neighborhood-community) beach parcel," says Glaser, who has a residence in Palm Beach.

The house also is within close proximity of Temple Emanu-El, the Palm Beach Synagogue, St. Edward Catholic Church and The Paramount Church, as well as shopping and dining on Royal Poinciana Way.

Portuondo designed the house with an inverted "U" configuration that creates its central courtyard. On the ground floor, the living room occupies the west wing. The studio, stairway, staff quarters and two-car garage are in the east wing. Bridging the wings on the north side are the dining room, kitchen and family room.

On the second floor are guest bedrooms along with the master suite, which takes up the entire west wing. One of the two master bathrooms -- like one of the guest bedrooms -- opens to a private terrace.

An open-air second-floor gallery — dubbed the "skybridge" — on the south side of the house connects the bedroom wings. It also provides framing for a dramatic first-floor point-of-entry to the courtyard.

Interior details include ceilings rising 9½ feet on the first floor and 9 feet on the second. Bathrooms are in marble.

"You have 8-inch-wide-plank light-oak floors (throughout) and all exterior balconies and courtyards are (covered in) terrazzo," he says. "Windows are green glass, finished in milled aluminum reminiscent of the 1930s and ’40s Deco homes."

In the kitchen, the countertops and backsplash are marble, and features include custom white-lacquer cabinetry and professional-grade appliances that include a high-end Bluestar stove and hood.

"There are a lot of young families moving to Palm Beach who want a modern home," says Glaser, who spent his career renovating, restoring and building homes in Greater Miami before turning his attention to Palm Beach a few years ago.

"Even the older generations want modern in Miami Beach," he says. "It’s vibrant, exciting and energizing."